The Color — Juanita Rey

When you see me flush
my birth control pills
down the toilet,
then you can be concerned.

Or if I peel the tangerine
with the edge of my fingernail

or dress up in a sparkling blue kickass gown
and don’t tell you where I’m going.

It’s got nothing to do
with drunken binges,
or crying fits
or tossing plates
against the kitchen wall.

But if the bowl empties
like the blood in my face
or the fruit’s more red
than the tongue that licks it
or that dress gleams brighter
than my eyes can manage –
then there’s the door,
a whole world of color waiting.

***

Juanita Rey is a Dominican poet living in the US and working to get into college to pursue a bachelor of fine arts. She has had work accepted in Harbinger Asylum, Madcap Poets, Bitter Zoetz and 2River View.